It has been dreamed of for decades, years in the planning and now the South Bristol Link Road will officially open on Monday, January 16, 2017.

Council chiefs have revealed that the work to actually build the road is now complete, and safety officers have been carrying out the legally required checks since Christmas, and the road will open to drivers for the first time in the morning of a week on Monday.

The road looks set to be the biggest change to South Bristol's usually nightmarish traffic for a generation, and residents of Bedminster, Hartcliffe, Bishopsworth, Inns Court and Ashton are promised a 'greatly reduced' level of usual daily congestion.

It has been built alongside the much-maligned Metrobus works – indeed a spur of the new link road will be solely for the bus-not-on-a-rail transport network.

But the boon for drivers is expected to come gradually, as locals, then city-wide folk, and then lorry drivers' satnavs catch up with the opportunities for shorter, quicker journeys reveal themselves.

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So if you don't know about the South Bristol Link road – here's our handy guide, which hopefully will tell you everything you need to know about the road everyone in South Bristol has been waiting for.

Why do we need it?

Any cursory look at the main road map for Bristol will reveal the city does have something like a ring road, the A4174, which runs from Filton, past the top of the M32, all the way round the eastern side of the city, joins the A4 for a brief time at Brislington, then cuts across South Bristol in a V-shape. There are two main roads out of Bristol to the south west: the A38 that goes into North Somerset and, crucially, to Bristol Airport, and the A370, that heads out to Weston-super-Mare.

But from a major roundabout at Hengrove continuing clockwise around Bristol towards those two roads, the ring road doesn't really exist – until now. This week drivers will have to head down Hartcliffe Way, into the Parson Street gyratory system and back out of Bedminster again along the A38, or – even more challengingly – head up Winterstoke Road in Ashton, past Bristol City's ground to reach the A370 with its connections south into North Somerset, or across the river to the Portway and the M5.

So where does it go?

The new road continues the circle from the point at the bottom of that V, further west between Bishopsworth and Withywood. The route, controversial for some in the area, follows Hengrove Way to the south of Imperial Retail Park, but then heads between the houses north of Gatehouse and the Merchant's Academy, and then joins what had been a wide residential boulevard called King George's Road.

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At the other end, heading west, the new road emerges into open country for the first time at Highridge Green, and has been laid across the fields. It turns north then, skirting Highridge, and meets the A38 just the city side of Woodspring Golf Club.

Crossing the A38 with a roundabout junction, it continues north, even curving north eastwards again, before it crosses the railway line and comes close to the western edge of Ashton Vale. Then the road splits. A spur continues north to reach the Long Ashton Park and Ride – this is only for the Metrobus – while another spur turns west again and meets the A370 Long Ashton bypass, further up the hill.

How long is the road?

From the A370 Long Ashton bypass to Hengrove Way it is 4.5km, or just under three miles. It cost £45 million to build.

Is it just a road? Nope, there are cycling and pedestrian paths all along the route, and it is also for the Metrobus – indeed a bus-only spur from Ashton Vale to Long Ashton Park and Ride is key to the Metrobus project.

What will this mean?

For anyone in South Bristol trying to get across this part of the city it will mean one major difference – an end to the jams at the Parson Street gyratory. Highways chiefs are forecasting a serious drop off in the amount of traffic that has to currently head into Bedminster and back out again, just to circumnavigate the south of the city.

The other main impact it will have will be on traffic heading to and from Bristol Airport.

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At present, every single motorist driving back from the airport has to go down the A38 to Parson Street. They then face a choice – head up West Street and into the city centre to get to wherever they want to go, or turn back south and reach the existing A4174 to get to other locations in South Bristol.

Now, in theory, it will be much easier and quicker to use the South Bristol Link Road.

Coming from the Airport to North or West Bristol, or the city centre?

You turn left onto the new road and cross to the A370 and then head across the Cumberland Basin to either the Portway or the A4 into the city.

Coming from the Airport to South or East Bristol?

You turn right onto the new road and cross Highridge and onto the A4174, to access Knowle, Brislington and then everything in east Bristol on the ring road.

The Bedminster bonus

For people living along the route of the A38, traffic on this main road is consistently a nightmare. But the hope is that the new alternatives will prove so swift that it will be quicker to get from the airport to the M32 and beyond by going all the way around the city.

"The South Bristol Link is expected to reduce traffic on unsuitable residential roads by providing motorists with an alternative route to the A370 and A38," said a highways spokesman.

"Traffic is expected to dramatically reduce on the roads which currently link the residential areas of South Bristol to Winterstoke Road and to the city centre via Bedminster.